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ticle " Pentecos t") remarks:
"It
[Pentecost) marked the beginning of
the offering of first fruits . The NT
[New Testament] uses the term to
refer to the established Jewish feast.
But since the gift of the Holy Spirit
to the church occurred on the day of
Pentecost (Acts 2: 1), Christians rein–
terpreted the meaning of it in terms
of the then event."
The
Encycfopaedia Britannica
(ar–
ticle " Pentecost") more fully ex–
plains: "The Jewish feast was
primarily a thanksgiving for the
firstfruits of the wheat harvest, but
the rabbis associated it with remem–
brance of the Law given by God for
the Hebrews to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
The church's transforma tion of the
Jewish feast to a Christ ian festival
was thus related to the belief that
the gifl of the Holy Spirit to the
followers of Jesus was the firstfruits
of a new dispensation that fulfilled
and succeeded the o ld dispensation
of the Law."
The New Testament Pentecost
fulfilled , and advanced, God's pur–
' pose that involved the law.
So now we are ready to examine
the question: Exactly what is the
relationship between the Old Testa–
ment Pentecost and the New? From
at least the later centuries before
Christ, the Jews tended more and
more to look back on the original
Old Testament Pentecost as the
feast related to lsrael's experience a t
the foot of Mt. Sinai, just as they
looked back on the original Pass–
over (commemorated today in the
Christian's annual reenactment of
the Lord's Supper) as the memorial
of divine protection and deliverance
from Egypt. At Sinai , God spoke
the Ten Commandments. And at
Sinai, on the following day, the
people of Israel bound themselves
to a covenant with God to obey
those Ten Commandments in addi–
tion to other regulations and ordi–
nances given them by God through
Moses.
Pentecost and the Law
Where, you may ask, does the Bible
tell us this covenant was solemnized
on Pentecost? The answer is in the
use of the simple reference " in the
third month" (Ex. 19: 1; also see 11
30
"Pentecost" is a Greek
term meaning
"fiftieth."
It
has
nothing to do with
supposed or alleged
modern charismatic
manifestations.
Chron. 15:10-15, where a reaffirma–
tion of that covenant was made by
Judah in the days of King Asa).
Understand that the date for Pen–
tecost is unlike that of any other of
God's feast days. Pentecost alone
must be counted each year; it does
not always fall on the same day of
the month. Probably for that reason
no date is given in the original ac–
count for the first Pentecost. But
Pentecost does always occur in, and
is the one biblically and spiritually
sign ifican! day in, "the third
month."
According to a J ewish tradition
and belief dating from a t least the
time of the composition of the pre–
Christian
Book of Jubilees,
the Old
Covenant was indeed made on the
feast of weeks. After the Roman de–
struction of the Temple in A. D. 70,
the feast of weeks became preemi–
nently a feast of the law even for the
Pharisees. The Samaritans likewise
have a lways placed God's actual
revelation and giving of the law on
the Sabbath preceding the Sunday
Pentecost.
The Covenant Day
But is the connection of the law to
the day of Pentecost antithetical to
this festival's Christian connection?
Not at all.
The significance of the day of
Pentecost is that it is the day of
covenants. We have seen that this is
a biblical concept illustrated in
Asa's reaffirmation of the Old Cov–
enant. The writer of the
Book of
Jubilees
went even further, judging
Pentecost and covenants so obvi–
ously related that he assigned a lso
God's covenants with Noah (Gen.
9), two with Abraham mentioned in
Genesis 15 and 17, and Jacob's cov-
enant with Laban (Gen. 31 :44), to
this day.
At Sinai, when Moses had written
down all of God's instructions, built
an altar, made other preparations
for the actual ceremony, and read
again to Israel the requirements of
God, Israel, as the wife, promised to
obey God the Husband, in a mar–
riage covenant: "Al! the words
which the Lord has spoken we will
do," they said (Ex. 24:3).
So the day God and Israel final–
ized a covenant a t Sinai became, so
to speak, God's wedding day- and
the anniversary is still so important
to God that He chose that very day
to inaugurate a New Covenant, con–
firming His continued !ove and con–
cero for humanity.
lt
was beca use oflsrael's lack of the
Holy Spirit that the original marriage
carne to grief. Therefore Christ later
carne to reconcile God and man. and
then sent the Holy Spirit from heaven
to beget Christians to God-life, and to
empower them so they would be able
to keep a covenant with God. With
this covenant function in mind, it
should be fully apparent how law,
grace and divine !ove are united for
Christians in the meaning ofthis day
of Pentecost.
When Christ by sending the Ho ly
Spirit had confirmed the covenant on
this day, three thousand people then
entered a new covenant with their
God, solemnizing it by the ceremony
ofbaptism (Acts 2:41). They, like a ll
ofus who today are baptized into the
New Covenant , were agreeing with
the words ofthe Israel ofold: "All that
the Lord commands, we will do. " And
whatever the actual day on which we
are baptized, Pentecost is the spiritual
commemorat ion- the birthday- for
us all, for it is the birthday of the
Church.
It
is the day of our espousal, or
betrothal to Christ (a very binding
kind of engagement). " 1 betrothed
you to Christ to present you as a
pure bride to her one husband,"
wrote Paul
(IJ
Cor. 11 :2).
Who knows, perhaps sorne future
Pen tecost will also be our wedding
day-at the marriage of the Lamb
(Rev. 19:7-9; Matt. 25: 1-13). when
Christ takes His Church as His
bride.
O
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1978